Storks losing their wetland homes end up at local garbage dump in India

An Indian woman rag picker searches for material as a group of Greater Adjutant Stork seen in the background at a rubbish dump near Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Guwahati city, India, on May 10.

Fast vanishing wetlands in and around Guwahati city have now become a major threat for the survival of the Greater Adjutant Stork. Guwahati city has the largest concentration of the stork in the world but their numbers are gradually declining due to the loss of wetlands, habitat and declining availability of food.

In Nov. 2011, China Central Television wrote about India's efforts to save the endangered birds. Biologists helped educate the communities sharing land with the birds' habitats about the importance of the species to the environment.

EPA

An Indian rag picker girls search for material as a group of Greater Adjutant Stork seen in the background at a rubbish dump near Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Guwahati city, India, on May 10.